Ficcish ponderings.

[camwyn]

Have started work on chapter nine of Hellblazer: Hogwarts. I'm only on the Notes from the Field section so far, but I have a general outline for the rest already in place. Didn't feel like listening to the soundtrack I'd assembled for John just yet, so I put on my alternative: the soundtrack to the anime Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade. It's all instrumental, with the occasional wordless human voice, but nevertheless it's suitable... if only because it's serious hurt-your-character music. Which is pretty much always appropriate for John, even if (as I am doing with this chapter) you intend to slant more towards the Harry Potter side of the equation than the Hellblazer one.

Have been considering poor John Lyon, meantime. I have a bit of an urge to do another chapter to "Isolate" sometime soon, one where he pauses in Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland) to have a chat with his friend Paavo before going on to the UK. I'm also turning over the concept of a wizarding 'job fair' in my mind, for kids whose fifth-year career consultations got them a decent set of OWLs and NEWTs but didn't net them a particular job.

Also pondering my original fiction, which tends to stall if I"m not careful. Mostly because I can't post it on the Net- I want to get it published someday, and to protect copyright I'm not going to leave it out where it can be seen. It's just that comments from people who've read it have the effect of making me want to write more, so those of you who say 'ooh, a REAL writer would WRITE FOR THE LOVE OF IT and not have the approbation of others as motivation to continue the work' should probably not waste your electrons telling me so. I already know I have a problem.

And thinking back over Mouse's journey from life as a cowhand in Wyoming to becoming the Littlest (and scariest) Mountie ever. I've got his backstory pretty well nailed, I think; I could do up a bit of that at some point...

Mind you I still have to work on the Imperial Japanese Mounted Police, starting with the uniforms. Yeah, I love the red. Yeah, I love the title of Scarlet Riders. Yeah, in that world line Canada's federal cops are almost certainly the old Dominion Police rather than the RCMP. But the fact remains that the red uniform was chosen specifically to avoid confusion with US cavalry soldiers at a distance, and the Meiji-era establishment would have no reason to stick their cops in scarlet. I need a colour that says to the Japanese mind, 'I am KICK ASS but I am also approachable'. Of course, this is all part of the original-fic problem but eh, I can live with that, y'all already know about the Japanese Mounties. I happen to like poor ol' Corporal Ikeshoji, and I want to get back to writing him as a very old man.

And I STILL haven't heard from Weird Tales about Alshani, despite that story being mailed in early May. I'm told their average turnaround time is three months, so I'm not gonna fume too much, just hope. And possibly do some editing on The Price, so it can be sent to a different magazine. Maybe something to do with the Elemental Conspiracy, too, the setting where the completion of the Trans-continental Railroad triggered a resurgence of magic in the US- magic that corresponded to Chinese rules, not European ones.

Finally, I need to go back and do some editing on a modern-fantasy setting idea I came up with... you lot haven't heard about it yet, not unless you're on a particular community I frequent. It involves the relatively recent return of magic to the world (we're talking Jimmy Carter having to add a branch to the EPA to deal with it, kind of recent).

Oh, and did I mention that I still haven't finished the Iron Author challenge from last time? Ngeh. I need some bubble tea. Mint, for preference, but sesame or taro will do.

Comments

[firestrike.livejournal.com]

...ooh, a REAL writer would WRITE FOR THE LOVE OF IT...

I thought it was ' A real writer would write because they can't help themselves. Because they can't cap the fountain of ideas and inspiration that keeps bubbling up in the back of their mind. Because, if they don't, they will go completely mad, rather than just flirting with the edges of insanity on a regular basis.'

Writers are weird, man.
Very strange folk.

-M

[camwyn]

The problem with that is that I look at my stuff and go 'AAAAAGH DRECK! This is nothing! This is the derivative dribble of someone who has not advanced appreciably since high school! I must never put this into any recorded form whatsoever, because someday someone will find it and either laugh or whistle for the nice men with the trank darts!'.

[firestrike.livejournal.com]

Not that you're biased by overexposure or anything. It's a stone bitch to honestly look at anything you've created, especially when it's been edited, revised, and otherwise creatively folded, spindled and mutilated. On the one hand, you see the bright shining inspiration that it should have been (and that you believe that it would have been if you didn't suck so badly). On the other hand, during the editing/polishing process you've frequently bludgeoned it so far from the initial concept that you can't look at it without seeing the underlying shadows cast by the previous drafts.

It's not as bad as you think it is. You just can't get past the burden of too much knowledge and evaluate it with an open mind.

That said, it's still a bitch to open yourself to the world by letting someone else see your creation. That's why I don't do much creative stuff anymore. I'm not sufficiently secure to give the world a clear shot at my vitals. You, however, have got the guts to go for it. So do so, dammit.

/soapbox

-M

[ocean-song.livejournal.com]

I am amazed by the sheer volume of ideas. Yes, some of it is derivative. But wasn't it some famous writer who said that everything's already been written. That there are only like 3, or 5, or 12 (depending on who you ask) plots, and they've all been done before.

You are talented. Just go do it. The world deserves your brilliance.

And I adore you!!!

[aethereal-girl.livejournal.com]

Of course you should write original fiction in preference to fanfiction. A real writer doesn't write to gain approval, a real writer writes for the money. Which you can't get for fanfic.

Also, when a magazine doesn't respond within their usual turnaround time, the best policy is to assume that it's because they're seriously considering your story, and need more time to make up their minds.

[camwyn]

Sorry, didn't hear that last? Too busy looking for a market for The Price, whilst editing it to make up for the deficits the nice Horde at Weird Tales mentioned. *grin*

[charliesmum.livejournal.com]

This has nothing to do with anything you posted, but I wanted to tell you this. My brother and sister in law went to Alaska earlier this summer, and were showing photos last weekend, and they had pictures of Musk-Oxen, and I thought of you. Which is a dubious sounding compliment, but I'm sure you know what I mean.

Musk-oxen are cute. And my SIL talked about using their fur to make (expensive) things, and I thought 'I know that because of Camwyn!'

Just thought I'd share.

[camwyn]

's all right. I know what you mean, yeah. Thank you.

One of these days I"ll find where I put that last little walnut-sized ball of qiviut, and then I can take it down to south Jersey and you can feel the fur for yourself.

[faeriethistle.livejournal.com]

i remember when i was younger, about 13, my dad had to go to alaska for work related business. he always brought home stuff for us kiddies. he brought for my sister and me, a teeny family of seals made of seal fur and an eskimo yo-yo also made of seal fur. i never could work the yo-yo. it hung on our wall and the seals sat on the dresser until sometime after i left for college. i think my mother, in her own meaningful way, thought they were kid stuff and threw them out.
the only think left from that trip was his "prudhoe bay" ski cap. my brother has it now. i'd kill for it.

funny how i too think of camwyn when i think of alaska or canada.

[faeriethistle.livejournal.com]

you write because you cant *not* write.
you put it out for sale because, though love of writing is wonderful, it dont feed the family.
i will buy your stuff if i see it.
1) because it's damn fine writing!
2) i will grovel appreciatively when you do book tours and
3) you gotta feed the family.

oh, have i mentioned i love your work?

[dragonwhishes.livejournal.com]

If you wanted, Camwyn, I could set up a brigade of people who tell other people not the post in your LJ until you finish one or more chapters of your book.

Also, this might send a Plot Bunny over to you; Will John encounter Voldemort at one time in the fic? (My daydream was that John saw the kids sneaking out, or that the kids respected him enough to take him with them.)

The Plot Bunny said this to me. (And seeing how Voldemort loves to bide his time, he would start the speech when John interupted him.)

John: Your the nutter that everyones afraid of?

D.A: *Is silent with shock.*

Voldemort: *Looks over at John* *Says in a deadly voice* Who are you?

John: John Constantine. Right King of All Bastards. *Lights a silk cut* Your the self proclaimed Dark Lord, eh?

Death Eaters: *Are very quiet, and are moving away from John.*

(And then I lost the bunny.)

[camwyn]

I've already got someone prodding me on the book. It's just going slowly 'cos it's hard SF and fantasy is so much easier to write (my degree in MIS did not include anything on asteroid mining, but my undergrad degree in anthropology had a LOT of stuff on religion and shamanism).

And, yes, John is in fact going to encounter Voldemort eventually. I have that planned out, believe me.

[dragonwhishes.livejournal.com]

Ahh. Oh well.

*Stares* I was... Right about something. *Falls to the floor in a dead faint.*

hmmm

[(Anonymous)]

I´d think John would use the phrase "Ya big wanker"